Torrance Massey, 19, was killed on a private road near his alma mater, O. Perry Walker College and Career Preparatory High School, about 8 p.m., according New Orleans police spokeswoman Hilal Williams. Officers responded to a report of a shooting and found Massey with multiple gunshot wounds to the body inside a vehicle near the 2800 block of Gen. Meyer Avenue.

Police also found an unidentified 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound in the vehicle, Williams said, but he survived and was taken to a local hospital in good condition. No motive or suspects in the shooting have been released.

Members of Massey's family said they cannot imagine why anyone would want to hurt the former football standout, who briefly played football for The Apprentice School in Newport News, Va. The college allows students to continue their athletic career while learning a trade in the shipbuilding industry.

Jannada Massey said her cousin had only been back in New Orleans for about five months and was living in eastern New Orleans with his mother. He had a job as a welder.

The victim still liked to keep in touch with his friends from Walker, and he planned to attend a Walker basketball game Wednesday to catch up with some of them, she said. She added that her cousin was always friendly and smiling, so it doesn't make sense that someone would be angry enough that they would want to kill him.

View full sizeMichael DeMocker, The Times-PicayunePeople grieve in the parking lot of O. Perry Walker as New Orleans police investigate the fatal shooting of Torrance Massey on Wednesday.

"He smiled all the time. ... He wasn't a bad person," Massey said. "He was just sweet. He always made you smile if you were mad."

Massey, who graduated in 2009, was a well-known and popular student at the school, where he also was a member of the National Honor Society. The Algiers Charter School Association will be making social workers available to students and faculty who need grief counseling, said Brandon Armant, a spokesman for the association. Armant stressed that the shooting did not occur on the school's campus and that most students only learned what happened when they left the basketball game and stumbled upon the crime scene.

Former teammates hit hard

Several members of the Walker football team had chatted with Massey as they returned from Behrman Stadium Wednesday afternoon after practicing for today's Class 4A playoff semifinal at Franklinton.

A couple of hours later, Massey was dead.

"Nobody in the gym (at the basketball game) heard the shots because it was noisy," said Walker defensive tackle Anthony Johnson, who attended the game. But someone ran into the gym shouting "Call 911!" he said.

"Man, I can't believe it," Johnson said. "Torrance was a great guy."

Michael DeMocker, The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Police investigate the double shooting outside O. Perry Walker that left one 19-year-old dead in the crashed vehicle at right on Wednesday evening, December 1, 2010.

Massey had played from 2004 to 2007, guiding the Chargers to the semifinals as senior. He had attended several of Walker games this season, including last Saturday's 26-20 four-overtime victory against Bastrop. Johnson said he understood Massey planned to travel to the Franklinton game.

Walker coach Emmanuel Powell, who was not at the Algiers school when Massey played there, said he did not know how the shooting would affect his team. The older players had been teammates and friends of Massey's, and several availed themselves of grief counseling after a morning team meeting.

Johnson said he and the other seniors would take it upon themselves to rally the team to be at its best tonight.

"It's important for us to keep our composure, go out and put our energies towards the game," he said. "That's what he'd want us to do."

Powell said it was probably too late to acquire patches for the team to wear, but that he still felt that Massey would serve as an inspiration to the Chargers.

The semifinal game marks the first time Walker has advanced this far since Massey was a senior. The winner advances to the 4A championship game in the Superdome on Dec. 11.

Armant said New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas visited the school Thursday to provide reassurance to students and encourage them to come forward if they have any information about the incident.

According to court records, Massey was out on bond on charges in Jefferson Parish of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and possession of marijuana. He pleaded not guilty Nov. 16.

Killing in Marrero

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office also is investigating a homicide from Wednesday night, in the 1100 block of King Drive in Marrero. Joshua Roussell, 25, was found dead by deputies responding to a report of a man shot at about 9:13 p.m. Numerous shell casings were located near his body, said Col. John Fortunato, a Sheriff's Office spokesman. No motive or suspects have been released in that incident.

Urbin Roussell III, the victim's father, said he doesn't know who would have wanted to hurt his son, or why they would kill his son only a few doors from his own home. Roussell said his son was quiet and kept to himself.

"He was a humble person," his father said.

Roussell said he talked to his son the day of the shooting and he seemed in good spirits. The victim had recently moved from his father's home and was living with his girlfriend and their two children in the nearby public housing development on Julia Street, his father said.

Roussell said he raised his son alone, with the help of family, after his mother died when he was a child, and he called the victim a good child. He said that when Joshua Roussell lived with him he would always make sure he came home at a reasonable hour, but he didn't know if things had changed once he moved out.

In addition to the homicide, the Sheriff's Office is investigating two stabbings along the West Bank Expressway between midnight and 5:30 a.m. However, neither of those incidents resulted in life-threatening injuries.